When I first heard about Nintendo's new console I was sceptical to say the least, there is a saying in the industry that the first company to release a new console for the next generation has lost the current generation war. It seems strange after how many of those little white boxes Nintendo has sold that this would be defeat for them, after all the natural life span of past consoles have been around 5 to 6 years and then we see a new iteration. But usually there is a clear graphical leap that signals the start of the new generation, with the PC being the forefront and with no PC games at the moment out that really showcase what the future holds we've seen no clear indication when or if Sony or Microsoft are going to make their big push for new hardware. So why should Nintendo make the plunge now? Like I said earlier I was sceptical when I heard of the new console from Nintendo, I only go back to Wii for Zelda, other big franchises for Nintendo have never given me as much enjoyment as the Zelda games have but they still have appeal to many who play on Nintendo consoles and have been brought up on them. To me it smelled of desperation from Nintendo to try and grab back the Core market which they conceded to Sony and Microsoft who have begun to dominate the space with both vying for as much exclusive or timed exclusive content from the third parties who develop the massive blockbuster titles we see year in year out making hundreds of millions of dollars for themselves and the console makers.

At E3 we saw the unveiling of the Wii U, terrible naming aside I was very impressed with the console or should I say with the Controller, it was clear that Nintendo was trying to hide the console hardware and have us focus on the what we'll be playing it with. They showed at the press conference a lot of tech demo's of what the controller was capable of and how the Wii U will still be using the Wii motes and Wii Fitness board with the new console which is great, it means I don't have to spend £40 on a new controller for the damn thing. But it got me thinking is Nintendo going to start taking a Handheld style approach to console gaming with them systematically upgrading the hardware every few years (like they have with the Nintendo DS as we've seen them do the DS, then DSi and then the 3DS) rather than make giant leaps from one generation to the next. You could argue they've already begun this as the Wii wasn't the giant leap from the GameCube graphics wise, what it was instead was a new way to play with games with the introduction of motion controlled gaming at the forefront, with the new Controller it again opens up new ways to play games on the console with motion control not left abandoned but included and mixed with this new device, it will also allow for DS style experiences that we see on Nintendo's handheld with a touch screen and stylus on the new controller and also with it having the analogue sticks, shoulder and trigger buttons, the device can be used as an ordinary controller for playing games so it offers a wide mix for a wide market of consumers. A lot will depend on Sony and Microsoft to see how they approach their next consoles and whether they will take a giant leap in the next generation as reports at the moment suggest the Wii U will have hardware comparable to the PS3 and Xbox 360. If the hardware leap by Sony and Microsoft isn't a vast leap than it may be possible for developers to develop games up from the Wii U to their new consoles like how at this point in time developers use the Xbox 360 as a base point, if it is the usual giant leap we get from predecessor to successor will developers stick around and continue to support the Wii U once Nintendo's competition have a big enough install base or will we see them begin to leave and pledge their support back to the others. Time is are only answer and with rumours that Sony and Microsoft could be unveiling and possibly launching their new consoles between 2013 and 2014 is that enough time for Nintendo to make the Wii U a success?

Sure the Wii U looks cool and I will probably buy it just for Zelda but is it smart for Nintendo to take this risk early in the hope of breaking back into the Core market? I'm not too sure, it's clear that Sony and Microsoft in particular are beginning to make a push for Nintendo's casual install base with Move and Kinect, but with a window of 2 years and consoles that will have been established house old products for 8(PS3) and 9(X360) years by 2014, will Nintendo be able to make this Wii U-turn and bring back the Core to their console or will the Wii U suffer the same fate as the Dreamcast?

So guys let me hear your thoughts on the Wii U am I being too harsh on the thing? Do you think Nintendo can win the Core back? Am I just a conspiracy theorist for Video Games? Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

With E3 behind us and the looming drought of the summer months fast approaching I thought I'd start writing about some of the games I'm looking forward to later in the year. Skyrim is without a doubt the game I'm looking forward to the most this year as an Elder Scrolls game can keep me occupied for many months at time and the latest being touted as having over 300 hours of game play I can't wait to stick my teeth into this mammoth of a game and maybe whack a few whilst I'm in there. For those who have never heard or never played an Elder Scrolls game let me give you a simple summary of the series: They are open world fantasy RPGs which let you do whatever the hell you'd like to do. Want an epic story? Do the main quest line. Want to be a fighter for hire? Join the fighters guild. Like to murder people for a living? Kill someone and join the dark brotherhood. Want to explore? There's a whole world out there with sights and wonders to behold just set out in a random direction. Want Armour for that horse? No well there's DLC for that too if you change your mind! There's so much content packed into these games with so much to do and have fun with that they are just impossible not to love, even some of the glitches and bugs in the game added to my enjoyment!

My first experience with the series came with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, back in my high school days me and my friends had been getting into The Lord of The Rings books and films and expanding our scope on the fantasy genre. One of my friends told me of this Xbox game he picked up called Morrowind describing this huge fantasy world open to exploration. Naturally I jumped at the chance to pick it up and play it, spending many nights I should of been doing homework playing the game. This game was like nothing had seen before with a whole new world with a rich aesthetic. Some of my fondest memories of Morrowind were just going about doing quests for the imperial legion in as many towns as I could find with an outpost. Or exploring dark dungeons having panic attacks when terrifying daedra attacked me from nowhere. Or the fear that got distilled into me when I failed to be sneaky and hearing someone whisper "what's that" whilst seeing their shadows flicker in a lamp lit corridor. I had never experienced anything like Morrowind and has become one of my favourite games of all time and I have never completed the main quest line of it due to the fact that I enjoy going about doing my own thing.

After spending countless hours in Morrowind I was more than anxious to play the follow up Oblivion which is also one of my favourite games of all time because of how it kept the essence of what Morrowind made special to me but improving on it in countless ways. No longer was I forced to wade through countless paragraphs of text in conversation now every character was voiced, graphics greatly improved, mounts, great quest lines. There was just a lot of content packed in there that I loved. But enough about the past the future is where it is at with the elder scrolls series and that future is looking very bright. If you haven't seen the E3 demo of the game have a look on YouTube for it to see how insanely awesome that game looks. Bethesda is making a few changes to the series with you no longer having to be bound to a certain class before you've played the game allowing you to experiment and play the way you want to. Bethesda are also implementing a perks system Ala Fallout to help you specialize your character. That plus the changes to the leveling system where the skills you use the most help you level up quicker are big bonuses in my opinion as it frees up the experience letting me play this game however way I want and not slowing down my leveling just because I prefer to use Swords and Shields all the time. Another feature that has me glued to my computer screen searching for more tid bits of information is the Radiant AI and the Radiant Story elements with AI being more believable to how side quests can be altered. The idea that the AI in this game is going to analyze where I have been and try to send to me places I haven't explored and avoid sending me to locations I have already been is just brilliant it's a way of opening up more locations that I might have ignored on my travels and letting me find fresh new experiences. Also with Bethesda implementing an in game economy of sorts and your actions can make a town prosper and flourish or doom it into an economic pit of despair and poverty by burning down it's lumber yard allows for more immersion in that your actions will affect these peoples lives it's great stuff and I for one hope they can pull it off.

I could talk all day about the features and what's new and what has been changed but just check out the Skyrim page for all the juicy features you can get your hands on, but Dragons are the main thing on my mind with this game and how they're going to be a game changer. Both elder scrolls I've played have given me countless hours of enjoyment but I've always felt that I was the alpha male in these games, but now dragons maybe challenging that mantle and I like it. Dragons in Skyrim are not scripted encounters they are fully fleshed out and left to their own devices doing whatever they want, attacking towns, hunting, flying in packs, just generally being bad ass! Encounters with these flying beasts are going to be a treat and a test "Fight or Flight" is the best term I can think that has been described for when you take on a dragon or dragons in some cases and that helps create a new dynamic for me one I'm not use to in this series. Sure I've died and had my ass handed to me when playing past games but I've never felt the need to flee from something and that's what I'm looking forward too the most the unpredictable dragons that could strike at any moment and to feel fear if I have to flee, if Bethesda can change the dynamics of the game and turn me from the Hunter to the Hunted at any moment then Skyrim should be the Ultimate Elder Scrolls experience for me. 11.11.11 Can't come quick enough for me.

This Review is for the PC Version Of Dragon Age 2:

I'm just going to get it out of the way Dragon Age 2 is not as good as Dragon Age: Origins, however it is a good game in it's own right. Dragon Age 2 is set in the fantasy world of Thedas focusing on the city of Kirkwall, unlike its predecessor which was set in the country of Ferelden. While being confined to Kirkwall and it's surrounding areas Dragon Age 2 doesn't feel like a small game compared to the Origins, Bioware has crafted a story that spans a decade which makes the game feel big as time passes by and the story marches on to it's awesome but cliffhanger ending.

In Dragon Age 2 Bioware set out a plan to improve upon Origins and to be bold, in parts they succeeded but their plan of boldness took out or edited some elements of the original game that we're already good to begin with. The game starts as you pick a human hero or heroine and what class you want to be, choices stay the same as the previous game letting you choose from Mage, Warrior and Rogue and the game throws you into a framed narrative as Varric a Dwarven storyteller is forced to recount the true events of what happened to Hawke the Champion of Kirkwall i.e. you by Cassandra a chantry seeker. The lack of picking your own race maybe a little disappointing but the benefit is that now your character is fully voiced with a Mass Effect style dialogue tree which helps create more of an emotional connection not only to your character but to others you interact with. The game is split into three acts which will see you playing Hawke's tale as he/she rises up from a poor Ferelden refugee to become a major player in the city of Kirkwall. The framed narrative which I really enjoyed in the end did nothing well in the first act of the game, it was hard to know what was going on with the plot, and doesn't make you care at all to what you're suppose to be doing, in the end act one becomes a major quest fetch and becomes a sort of mindless task of going from one spot do a quest, go to another spot do another quest and then hand in that earlier quest. At times in the first act I didn't think that this framed narrative was going to work at all, I wasn't enjoying the game too much as the first act lacked focus, but it was in these times of doubt that Dragon Age 2 began to shine, whipping back to present day Varric and Cassandra just to hear a little teaser of what is about to transpire always peaked my interest and rejuvenated me to carry on with the game. As the game moves on into Act 2 and 3 things steadily improve constantly adding focus so that when you come back to the present, those scenes continually add momentum to the story so that when you reach the end the story is a satisfying one filled with choices that are not necessarily split between black and white, not often can a game pull off a cliffhanger ending which doesn't make me frustrated but Dragon Age 2 pulls it off with flying colours delivering a story with weight, including some great cameos and creating a scenario that all Dragon Age fans will be looking forward to.

The real stars of Dragon Age 2 are the companions you encounter throughout your journey, it has become a shining part of Bioware RPGs to have followers who feel real and actual make you feel emotion towards them whether it be hate or love, although there's no one who's going to hold a candle to the bromance my elf and Alistair had in the original(although Anders did try but I really think he just wanted to have sex with me), I still found characters who will become some of my favourite companions in the Dragon Age series and some who I will hate forever(yeah I'm talking about you Fenris! Bloody emo elf). The ranging emotions and believability of these characters is helped thanks to the terrific voice acting this game has, Bioware nails this down with even minor characters having good voice actors making the world feel alive and engaging. One of my favourite aspects of the game was seeing how my companions reacted with each other, party back chat is one of the games strengths but just seeing that through cut scenes of companions actively talking to one another and hearing it in their back chat had a mesmerizing effect on me. Again Dragon Age 2 offers romance possible for any sexual orientation, these are taken care of very well with how you approach each romance seeming appropriate to the character who you are romancing but the sex is awkward like in most video games. My only complaints for companions is that during my first play-through as a rogue I felt that I was always forced to have two of the same companions with me, as Anders is the only true healer in your fold and Aveline is the only proper tank which made me spend most of the game bring them two around and giving the third place in the group to any of the others. This was a real shame as the back party chatter was so good and how it worked with different groups of people with me it would have been nice to have opened up more possible pathways for companions to level up in so that I could of mixed a matched a bit more. Also you can no longer equip companions with armor of your choosing instead all you can do is fork over some gold to buy upgrades to their armor which is a shame as the amount of loot you get you end up selling the majority of it.

One of the biggest changes to the series is the combat has been overhauled, gone is the slow combat of origins and awakening instead replaced by a fast paced but still tactical system. Without a doubt parts of the system are a welcome to the franchise as the combat is fun and was joy to participate in, however the removal of the tactical view had me screaming at points because of the frantic nature of the combat damage is dealt quicker and things transpire in battle a lot faster making some of the bigger battles a pain to deal with, especially when I'm looking to make use of cross class combos and position my group in tactical positions in one go instead of now having to hop to each single one and place them myself. Tactics are still in place so you have your companions react in combat the way you want them too, I used this feature more this time around than in origins due to the fast paced combat. A big shame is that there isn't too many new enemy types to you'll spend most of the game fighting the same enemy types you faced off against in origins and the few new enemy types you come across only make a brief stint here and there in the game, however bosses even though few in number were very fun to fight against and provide a World of Warcraft dungeon style boss for you to fight against. Skill trees have been overhauled and while there has been a clear sign of trimming they don't feel at all dumbed down and still let you play various different ways and still have fun in doing so.

The graphics have also had a facelift to give the Dragon Age series it's own style and while the engine doesn't make you scream from the top of your lungs at how pretty it is the game still looks a lot better and more defined, with quanari and elves getting a makeover to make them seem different than just humans with pointy ears. However the design and look of dungeons can't be credited as Bioware seem to have taken a step back to the original Mass Effect with having only a handful of dungeons and recycling them constantly all the way through the game and just have certain corridors blocked off to try and fake the player into believing this is a different area when in fact it isn't.

Dragon Age 2 isn't going to give you that same feeling the original did however you shouldn't let that stop you from picking up this game. Whilst Bioware still needs to find a good balance and improve upon dungeon design Dragon Age 2 is a game you will want to play just for the terrific combat and the excellent story and with the promise of post release DLC there is more than enough of reason to keep playing this one

Single Player Gamer is my Opinion/Review blog about the single player campaigns of games for people who prefer games to play on their own rather than with others and my thoughts and reactions to upcoming games. Please Note this post may include spoilers and should not be read if you don't want a game potentially ruined.

Initially when I first saw Bulletstorm I wasn't too impressed. To me it just looked like a first person Gears of War or a more single player focused Unreal Tournament, with a big bulking heroes, grunting, gore and weapons that seemed yanked and blended from those two games, it wasn't till I actually sat down and started paying attention to the actual trailers that got me thinking maybe, just maybe this game might be have its own style. The leash, the kill with skill, the over the top swearing and the promise of a less serious shooter got me interested. So I downloaded the demo played it and had doubts again, kill with skill, whilst entertaining made me think I'm not that creative, I'm not too good at shooters and it seems that this is the way the game is meant to be played and if I don't enroll onto this style I'm going to end up having a dull time just shooting enemies the old fashioned way or I'm just going to be slapped vigorously and repeatedly until I submit to the game's will.

I'm glad to say I was wrong and that someone should really kill my dick for ever having doubts. Booting up the game and diving into the single player Bulletstorm eases you into its style, it may take a while before they actually let you kill with some skill and they probably could of sped it up the opening a bit but it is effective at giving you the confidence to experiment. It also helps that all these skill points you gain are the games currency in which you can buy your ammunition and weapon upgrades, playing it like a normal first person shooter will have a negative effect on your experience of the game as you will be quickly running out of ammo with hardly any skill points to purchase more ammunition and weapon upgrades. Not that you always need to fire your gun in this at many points I found it more fun and easier to just leash someone towards me and kick them into some electrical wiring or off a building to a grizzly death.

Speaking of death that is what this game really excels at, creating some of the best ways to kill an enemy, there's 130 ways to end your foes nice day, the game has skill shots for everything from the environment to your weapons and you just getting darn sadistic and yes there's a skill shot that will call you a sadist, the game will give you a description for most of the skill shots whilst some remain secret and even after you unlock them you still will not get a description of what you did. Personally I preferred it that way I rarely went into the database to see what I needed to do and always found it more rewarding when I came up with the idea myself. After being familiar with the way the game operated in the first few hours I began to think I'm enjoying myself but I might get stuck in a rut constantly performing the same skill shots over and over losing any fun I had with the game, thankfully the game is great and pacing it's self by constantly introducing something new in each level and gradually unlocking each weapon so that you have a good chance of mixing it up and then allowing you to revisit weapons so that you can see their charge shot equivalent. The game also mixes it up the enemy types as progress forcing the issue of getting creative which really helps keep things fresh and fun. So in summary the game play is awesome constantly challenging you to get creative and to get sadistic on this rabble of crazies.

Now I'm going to turn my attention to the story and the swearing(or cursing if you're that way inclined). Bulletstorm follows Grayson Hunt on a quest of revenge, it's not a original plot the majority of characters are dicks which the game doesn't try to hide at all, but there are some great moments if you can get invested in these people. I don't want to spoil the story for those that haven't played it but the biggest thing that annoyed me about this game was the(STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS)

cliff-hanger ending, it seemed like it was a kick in the teeth after what had been promised in developer diaries about this not being like all the other shooters on the market but making the same old mistake of saying here's the game but we want to make sequels in this franchise so this should get you screaming loud enough so that one can be commissioned. I mean what happened to the days where you could make a game give it a resolution and let the game stand on it's own two legs so that it was actually worth a sequel. Aside from that I did enjoy the story but wish I could of landed on something concrete.

The biggest surprise for me was the swearing(cursing) I'd seen all the developer diaries, read previews and reviews about the strong language but for me it wasn't too bad, it didn't detract from my experience and was more funny than stupid, but Bulletstorm does ask you what kind of person you are. Can you switch off and enjoy this colourful language filled shooter or does reckless use of the English language turn you right off, if you're one of the former you will love this game and how it will remind you of the first time you started swearing or if you're part of the latter you may think no thanks I can get this kind of thing by playing Call of Duty on Xbox live why should I pay for this!?

Overall I enjoyed my time with the Single player campaign of Bulletstorm I probably will plug away at the game a few more times to try and unlock more skill shots and move up the difficulty scale, while it starts slow it soon picks up and is constantly asking you how much of an inner sadist you really are.